I was asked to write a few words about this book. I received it months before it was published and just a straight typeset. I was hooked from the first story and immediately purchased Volume I Saints of Empire and have devoured both book three times in as many months. It is an excellent read and I really hope there will be more books in the series.

As iconography is to images so hierography is to stories of the saints. Seddon has a mystical way with words; he brings you into the stories of the saints and paints such a powerful picture with his words that you find yourself there. This book was an incredible read that I know I will read again often and share with friends and family. So journey back to the 5th and 6th Century for stories of saints both famous and lesser known and maybe the stories will impact your life and your path. The chapters, the twelve stories in this volume are:

Stories built on legends but told to teach lessons. These stories will evoke powerful images and they will surprise, encourage, enlighten and challenge a reader open to the examples of the saints of old. Seddon masterfully tells these 12 stories. C.S. Lewis stated in Letters to Malcolm "Though we cannot experience our life as an endless present, we are eternal in God's eyes; that is, in our deepest reality." These stories reflect that eternal to us in new and exciting ways.

I have 4 measures for what I consider outstanding books. First do I want to share it with my children as they grow? Second will I read it again? Third do I wish for e more books in the series? And finally I cannot stop talking about it. This book meets all three and I wish there was a way to give it more than 5 stars. I would love to see what Seddon would do with saints of other ages, Damien the Leper, Edith Stein, Pope John XXIII and more, if we are lucky maybe he will!Books by Andrew M. Seddon:Non-Fiction:Walking with the Celtic Saints (with Neil & Gerlinde Kennedy-Jones)

2 comments:

I agree, I think Andrew Seddon has a great way of making saints seem like real and fascinating people -- a tough job when you are writing (as he is in the two Saints Alive! volumes) from scanty legends. I'm so glad he gave me a chance to preview the new book and write a blurb for the cover.

I like your suggestion that he should write about modern saints. Andrew, are you listening?